No, don’t waste your time/money on it. D2R and PD2 are way better. Let me know if you’re interested in why, I’ve got a pretty huge list of complaints about D4.
The game balance is whack. Some of the random mini-bosses or mobs can take way more time and effort to kill compared to the main quest bosses. And even if you put in the effort to kill a random OP boss, the loot you get from them is pretty lame and doesn’t make it worthwhile. And you run into these sort of mobs everywhere, making game progression slow and grindy.
As a Sorc, the gameplay isn’t very enjoyable compared to the previous games. I constantly run out of mana in the early/mid game, preventing me from spamming my main spells. D2 had mana issues as well in the early game, but at least you could stock up on mana potions and map them to a hotkey, so it wasn’t really a big issue. But even without a mana potion mechanic, D3 was still pretty fun to play as a Sorc and you could still spam spells, but I’m just not getting that feeling of fun in D4. I cast a Hydra and a couple of Chain Lightnings and I’m out of mana, so I’m forced to go back to the lame basic spell, which is not only very unsatisfactory, but does very little damage.
Furthermore, the additional of unnecessary cooldowns makes the gameplay very annoying. For instance, Teleport is a spell that any Sorc would love to (ab)use, but adding a long cooldown on it seriously nerfs it, limiting mobility and creative use during fights.
Speaking of mobility, I still haven’t come across any boots that provide a decent run/walk speed boost, so you move around at snails pace. There are horses, but you can’t get one until you complete Act III, and it is a major chore to get to there. Regardless, you can’t use your horse during a fight or inside a dungeon, so the slow movement is still an issue.
The sizes of towns / NPC spread is also bit of an issue, with key NPCs being far apart from each other and your stash, so you spend a lot of time just running around from the blacksmith to the occultist to the stash etc, and the slow running speed doesn’t help.
All of the above changes seem to be aimed at intentionally slowing down your gameplay and progression, which to me doesn’t make any sense - an ARPG, at least for me, is supposed to be fast-paced and fun, but D4 moves along at a slow and annoying pace. In this aspect, even D3 was better because it gave you a movement speed boost if you broke a certain number of objects in a short timespan, and the combination of plenty of shrines and or boosts along the way made it fun.
Not being able to adjust my attributes like in D1/D2 is very limiting. Like, what if I wanted to put more points into DEX for a max-block build? Or one that emphasized on greater mana availability at the cost of health? I can’t really do that with D4. Same with the lack of runes and runewords, which limits gameplay flexibility. I do like that you can reset your skills (at a cost), but as you get into paragon levels, the skill trees become very unweildy and a chore to reallocate if you reset them. Also, D4 hides a lot of numbers and mechanics behinds the skills/spells, which makes it hard to calculate and come up with proper builds (which is probably also the reason why we still haven’t come across any decent build site - the Sorc builds on maxroll was crap and even pretty inaccurate in some areas).
I also dislike that you’re only limited to using 6 skills at a time, and that you can’t remap them whichever way you want to, which again limits gameplay flexibility. This is especially limiting for those who play a spell/skill-heavy class like a sorc.
The loot/gear in D4 sucks compared to D2, at least, from what I’ve seen so far. “Legendary” gear drops fairly regularly, but they don’t really give you the same feeling of awe and excitement like in D2. In D2, people would lose their shit over finding something like a Shako or SoJ or something, but in comparison, the gear in D4 feels very generic and not really memorable.
Legendary items are account bound, so you can’t share your old/unwanted gear with your mates. This also means that there are no more “free” games like in D2R/PD2, where folks drop off unwanted loot.
The attributes and effects of some items also aren’t really made obvious. Like, what the heck is “Item power” on an amulet supposed to mean? And just because something has a higher “item power” doesn’t automatically make it a better gear, so what’s the point of it? I don’t really get it.
The field-of-view is weird compared to the earlier games and even other ARPGs, it’s less isometric and more top-down and too zoomed in. Because of how zoomed-in it is, you don’t get to appreciate the terrain and you only see a small portion of the world, which can be a pain for navigating and finding your way around - you need to constantly keep referring to the map.
Speaking of which, I miss the old transparent overlay automap in D2. In D4, I find myself constantly checking the big map and switching out, because the minimap is too zoomed in and kinda useless (why can’t I zoom it out?). Someone is working on making a transparent overlay map, but it’s very limited right now and there’s no guarantee that Blizzard won’t ban you for using it.
As a Sorc, the design and animations of the some of the spells suck. Chain Lightning looks weak af and not really epic looking/OP, like how it was in D2. Hydras in particular look weak and atrocious compared to D2/R.
Speaking of Hydras, I’m angry that I can’t cast more than one Hydra at a time like in D2. I believe you can get an item that may allow you to cast an additional Hydra, but I haven’t come across it as of l48. But I still shouldn’t have to rely on some rare item for what should’ve been a core spell mechanic, this makes the Hydra sorc build a lot less viable compared to earlier games.
The font makes the game look cheap and not Diablo-y. Seems like they literally just used Times New Roman for everything, and I don’t get why, it makes the game look like a cheap and generic ARPG. I mean, D2R proves that the classic Diablo font still looks awesome on modern wide-screen monitors, same with Project Diablo 2 with their new S7 graphics and HD fonts, so there’s no reason for Blizzard to ditch it. But even if they wanted to change the font just for the heck of it, couldn’t they have used something better than freaking Times New Roman?! Seriously, it looks so ugly that I get angry every time I see it.
One big issue on PC is the mouse pointer - it’s tiny and gets lost on a big screen when there’s lots of stuff happening, so as a result you end up misclicking and trying to figure out where your mouse has disappeared off to. As a sorc who likes to teleport into a mob, freeze em and fire off a chain of attacks, this disrupts my entire combo chain and I end up waiting for the long cooldown timers to expire before I can launch another attack, and as you can imagine, this is incredibly annoying. This was never an issue with D2 as it uses a large cursor that makes it very obvious where it is on the screen.
The music so far has been very unremarkable and not dark and Diablo-y. I mean, it’s not bad or anything but just not memorable, like the music in Diablo 1 and 2 - the haunting guitar strums, the middle eastern desert themed music, the spooky Indian chants in D2 A3, the epic heoric music from D2 A5. I can’t really recall any epic BGM in D4, besides the music for Tristam, which was taken from D1. Music, to me, play a huge part in creating atmosphere, and that is missing from D4.
Same with other audio effects and monster sounds. Why are the Fallen no longer singing praises of Rakanishu or Colenzo? They also don’t talk or make any funny/scary grunts, making them feel very lifeless and lacking in character.
Speaking of monsters, they are so incredibly generic that it’s mind-boggling that this is supposed to be a sequel to the Diablo series. Majority of the monsters that you fight are just humans/humanoids, or regular wild animals, with only a few actual “monsters”. The design and names in particular are so dumb, for instance, a skeleton is called “Horror”, and it’s boss would be called “Horror Captain”, also you fight humans called “Arsonists” or “Maurauders”, and then there are beasts literally called “Beast” - did someone forget to update a placeholder name? It’s like they ran out of budget and fired the creative department. Whereas in D2 the mini-bosses would get really cool sounding names which are randomly generated, sometimes giving making them sound really cool or really funny. To me, reading those monster names is just as much fun as killing them, whereas in D4 you just have to be content with fighting an ordinary looking bear called “Beast”.
Finally, the NPCs seem so lifeless as well, they don’t greet you when you talk to them, no “Good morning” etc, also there are no memorable NPCs like good ol’ Decard Cain with epic quotes like “Stay a while and listen”. Cain’s dialogs in D1/D2 are so memorable that you could even buy T-Shirts with his quotes - I don’t see this happening with any D4 NPC.
TL;DR the game is very grindy and unbalanced, it feels like a cheap and generic ARPG. It lacks soul and doesn’t feel like you’re playing a Diablo game, besides the story and cutscenes (which is probably where all the money went to).
Cut some quotes to get under the 10k character limit
Some of the random mini-bosses or mobs can take way more time and effort to kill compared to the main quest bosses. And even if you put in the effort to kill a random OP boss, the loot you get from them is pretty lame and doesn’t make it worthwhile. And you run into these sort of mobs everywhere, making game progression slow and grindy.
I’m guessing it’s the “increased health” mobs you’re talking about here. Those (minion mobs that accompany elites) were a pain at lower levels, but I don’t notice them at all now at a higher level. The way I adapted at low levels was to just ignore them - I moved on, they followed me and got eventually killed when I AOEd them along with normal mobs. Or I just ran away from them and left them far behind.
There are over 100 unique dungeons and each gives a unique Codex aspect, so my early game focus (on my first character) was to complete each dungeon quickly once. Because there were so many, at lower levels I never tried to 100% clear dungeons - I’d run past nearly all mobs along the way to objectives (unless the objective was to kill all mobs). Maybe it became a non-issue for me because I just ignored them until I was powerful enough to kill them easily.
Re: Sorc mana issues
I deliberately went with a build that didn’t use mana (Arc Lash) because of the above, but have heard others say that resource management becomes less of an issue at high levels. There’s a codex power you can get from a dungeon (Witchwater in Hawezar) called the Prodigy’s Aspect (restores 15 mana after using a cooldown skill) which can help but, your options are limited at low levels. Later on, you can get a better roll of the Prodigy’s aspect from found items, combine that with cooldown reduction and mana cost reduction to ease the pain.
Speaking of mobility, I still haven’t come across any boots that provide a decent run/walk speed boost, so you move around at snails pace. There are horses, but you can’t get one until you complete Act III, and it is a major chore to get to there. Regardless, you can’t use your horse during a fight or inside a dungeon, so the slow movement is still an issue.
After you’ve complete the game once, you get the horse from level 1 on all other characters. Personally, I enjoyed the campaign, so it didn’t feel like a chore to me.
You can also get movement speed on your amulet (not sure if it can appear on other items). On my sorcerer, between my boots and amulet, I have 130% movement speed (about 20% on boots and 10% on amulet - neither of which are max rolls), which is a lot more pleasant.
The sizes of towns / NPC spread is also bit of an issue, with key NPCs being far apart from each other and your stash, so you spend a lot of time just running around from the blacksmith to the occultist to the stash etc, and the slow running speed doesn’t help.
Yeah, the design of some towns make them a pain to get around or reach the locations you want. I think the devs wanted to make the towns feel like actual towns and to spread out the player population among different locations (maybe to improve performance) so they spread out the locations of the NPCs.
I prefer something more functional and that streamlines gameplay. If I know that I want only want to salvage, sell, or stash items, I’ll go to the Tree of Whispers waypoint. If I want anything besides the basics, I’ll go to Cerrigar (everything is close except for stash) or Kyovashad.
Re: Assigning attribute points. Same with the lack of runes and runewords, which limits gameplay flexibility. I do like that you can reset your skills (at a cost), but as you get into paragon levels, the skill trees become very unweildy and a chore to reallocate if you reset them.
I didn’t miss the manual point allocation from D2. There’s always a mathematically optimal way of allocating points, so I’d always just look up a guide and put points into what was recommended.
You get a similar effect in D4 in the form of properties from items - items have a limited number of properties on them and you can choose items with properties that improve something you’re focusing on at the cost of other things. This becomes really obvious in hardcore when you often sacrifice damage for more life and higher defensive stats. The reverse is also possible, as is building for more mana/resource availability.
Paragon respecs definitely need an overhaul. Supposedly there will be a respec scroll in Season 1 but I don’t know how easy it will be to come by.
Also, D4 hides a lot of numbers and mechanics behinds the skills/spells, which makes it hard to calculate and come up with proper builds (which is probably also the reason why we still haven’t come across any decent build site - the Sorc builds on maxroll was crap and even pretty inaccurate in some areas).
My understanding was that they datamine the game files for those numbers. The players don’t know the details but the builds should be fine. I can only speak for the MaxRoll Arc Lash build and didn’t have a problem with it.
I also dislike that you’re only limited to using 6 skills at a time, and that you can’t remap them whichever way you want to, which again limits gameplay flexibility. This is especially limiting for those who play a spell/skill-heavy class like a sorc.
Maybe I’m misunderstanding but you can remap them - hit “S” and drag and drop skills to different slots. If you mean the keybindings, you can also change those.
The loot/gear in D4 sucks compared to D2, at least, from what I’ve seen so far. “Legendary” gear drops fairly regularly, but they don’t really give you the same feeling of awe and excitement like in D2. In D2, people would lose their shit over finding something like a Shako or SoJ or something, but in comparison, the gear in D4 feels very generic and not really memorable.
I’m not sure how I feel about the loot yet. There aren’t any sets. You can craft great legendaries with a rare and legendary aspect with good rolls, but that doesn’t have the same excitement as a great drop. Supposedly there are uniques that people would lose their shit over, but those sound too rare.
The attributes and effects of some items also aren’t really made obvious. Like, what the heck is “Item power” on an amulet supposed to mean? And just because something has a higher “item power” doesn’t automatically make it a better gear, so what’s the point of it? I don’t really get it.
I found this article helpful, especially the section on breakpoints.
When I played the beta, it felt too zoomed in. Maybe I got used to it, but it didn’t bother me after the full release. It zooms out a bit more when you’re mounted, so I mount whenever I’m able. I don’t really mind the zoom level for the world now, but feel the minimap is too zoomed in.
I never liked or used the transparent overlay from the previous games but definitely understand why others would miss it.
As a Sorc, the design and animations of the some of the spells suck. Chain Lightning looks weak af and not really epic looking/OP, like how it was in D2. Hydras in particular look weak and atrocious compared to D2/R.
Spell effects become more impressive at higher levels (note that 5/5 in a skill isn’t considered “high level” - you need items to boost it higher for the better visual effects).
This is not to say Chain Lightning and Hydra are impressive at high level (I don’t know - I haven’t seen them).
Speaking of Hydras, I’m angry that I can’t cast more than one Hydra at a time like in D2. I believe you can get an item that may allow you to cast an additional Hydra, but I haven’t come across it as of l48. But I still shouldn’t have to rely on some rare item for what should’ve been a core spell mechanic, this makes the Hydra sorc build a lot less viable compared to earlier games.
This might be because of your level - legendaries drop a lot more frequently the higher your level (edit - and World Tier). When I was playing, it felt like they just started to drop more frequently at L45. At higher level, for me, it’s an issue of having too many and stash space feeling way too limiting (stash space is one of my biggest gripes with the game currently).
From what I’ve gathered, sorcerers are considered one of the weakest classes in the endgame and need some buffs.
Re: Font
I actually prefer this font because I find it much easier to read.
You can increase the pointer size in the settings. I found this to be an issue too but after increasing the size to medium, it’s been fine for me. You can also increase the size a notch higher but I haven’t needed to.
Re: Music
This is a matter of personal taste. Out of all of the Diablo games, my favorite soundtrack is from D1. I didn’t find the music from D2 and D3 to be very memorable. There are some dungeon tracks in the D4 soundtrack that I really liked and that reminded me of D1. D1 is still my favorite but D4 comes in second for me.
Same with other audio effects and monster sounds. Why are the Fallen no longer singing praises of Rakanishu or Colenzo? They also don’t talk or make any funny/scary grunts, making them feel very lifeless and lacking in character.
I liked D3 and D1’s monster sounds the most. The Fallen do say Rakanishu, but it’s uncommon (not sure if only a certain type of fallen says it or if it’s just rare).
Re: Monster variety
I don’t have a problem with general monster variety but I think they could use a lot more different end bosses in dungeons (feels like there’s a handful of bosses being reused across 100+ dungeons).
Reading through this, I feel like you have voiced a lot of concerns I had for the game, considering D3 launch and blizzard history.
Thanks a lot, I will definitely not buy this anytime soon. I might buy it if they get their shit together (I don’t have much hope) and if it goes on some serious sale.
Funny thing you mentioned the music, I made this post after listening to the Tristram ost (I love it so much) and checking if there was a D4 version. I found that it sounded pretty nice and made me reconsider not buying D4. Hence this post.
I still think D4 is a pretty decent investment (possibly not full-price decent) but it’s hard to assuage the hardcore crowd while also catering to (the millions of) casual players, especially on consoles. That said, it’s a pretty good time-waster for a couple hundred hours (at least for me) and when I do put it down eventually, I think I would have gotten my money’s worth.
I loved D2. Hated D3. Love D4 and I don’t agree with a lot of the things mentioned. Some are even false. Sad to see someone miss out on this beautiful game because of being misled.
Most of what was written was incorrect or lies. They’re one of those people that only likes D2 and if a game isn’t D2, then it’s bad. Don’t be a moron and listen to them.
It's some form of copy-paste response that I've seen them make before when someone asks about Diablo 4. Though I think the list has grown since the last couple of times I've seen it.
Speaking of Hydras, I’m angry that I can’t cast more than one Hydra at a time like in D2. I believe you can get an item that may allow you to cast an additional Hydra, but I haven’t come across it as of l48. But I still shouldn’t have to rely on some rare item for what should’ve been a core spell mechanic, this makes the Hydra sorc build a lot less viable compared to earlier games.
Another tip - for legendary aspects that are only available from item drops (like the hydra aspect), you can try gambling for them.
For:
Offensive aspects, gamble the cheapest (in obols) weapon available for your class
Defensive > pants
Utility and mobility > boots
Resource > rings (resource aspects can be hard to get because rings can also roll with offensive aspects)
I agree with a lot of your points regarding how sorc isn’t very fun to play. I’m currently close to 70 and I only found a small handful of builds that are semi-viable and fun (not really following any of the “meta” guides though), and decided to switch to rogue for a more interactive game-play.
That said, I did find a couple of uniques for sorc (unfortunately in T3) that changed my playstyle a bit and brought back a lot of power that I formerly lacked, so maybe it’s just a matter of getting the right unique to change your perspective on your playstyle.
Regarding the fonts: I’ve always thought the old-style D2 fonts are really hard to read (you get used to it, but small-caps aren’t really designed for legibility) so I really appreciate the change in typefaces.
Edit: I think most of your points regarding quality of life (vendor-spread, FOV, etc) are spot on, and I hope the devs spend some time streamlining some things so we can go back to comparing decimal points as opposed to rubberbanding on horses.
I really hate how limited the build choices are, on sorc especially. The entire game seems heavily skewed towards rigidity rather than flexibility, which is especially ridiculous for an ARPG.
I wouldn't lump this in with the whole "enshitification" issue.
This is the end result of gamers not placing any value on the content they consume. People want free content, regardless of quality, over anything else.
So, as you would expect, what you are seeing is free content, regardless of quality, being created en masse.
I mean I would argue it's related, the reason behind it is $$$. Corporate interests have homogenized content and de-normalized diversity and community.
People who use to just post their excel sheets and research on some bb forum for free somewhere starting getting paid by icy veins or maxroll. Overtime they establish a monopoly on the content and can do whatever the hell they want.
Why make a platform that depends on the community and you get the ad views when you can adopt a business strategy that also gets you youtube and social media views while eliminating your competition.
And the youtube trend is just people trying to emulate the handful of people who managed to make it big off the twitch/youtube bag.
Social media has now existed for an entire generation and those users are very averse to creating accounts on new websites. They also aren't willing to put up with growing pains and lack of content. Alternatives are almost impossible to get off the ground now.
People have been doing exactly that for decades, ever since video games (or learning in general) have been a thing. Nintendo's tipline in the 80s was free. Here is an in-depth guide to every version of tetris, complete with ascii diagrams and user-submitted cheats, released less than a year and a half after the gameboy version came out, when the internet was still a mess of rabbit holes. It's far from new.
Both of those attracted helpers primarily or entirely for the love of the thing itself. 99.9% of communities for any topic are the same way, and one would be horrified to find out the kinds of things that people get up to in knitting circles. Insinuating it's wrong to expect help to be both useful and accessible runs counter to human nature.
Frankly, when we're talking about YouTube, it's also weird. The watcher doesn't pay either platform. An uploader running two ads on a video with a million views makes $180, and that's if none of them is running an ad blocker (they are). Scrolling through the top Hades videos, the only ones with views that really broke more than the low thousands were the official trailers. No one is so much as buying chicken nuggets off that game unless they are the company that made the game.
From someone who jumped from Hades all the way back to trying to beat Suikoden Tactics, god fucking bless passionate text forums in general and gamefaqs specifically. I would not have have bothered with an obvious clickbait ""boss exploit"" video, but the information that there was one spread like wildfire among fans in paragraphs of nuanced Q&As. For free. Because people needed to talk about the game with each other, which they are still doing on Lemmy for free too.
Nor do I have the will to sit through what would be actual irl hours of letsplays to figure out the ancient coin is on the third floor of Obel, buried in the right-hand rubble next to the exit. Sometimes, often even, you just want the damn answer.
Rofl, it's a hobby, you do it for fun, you shouldn't need to get paid. I also play tennis as a hobby and I love to talk to people about it without charging them money believe it or not. The fetishization with internet fame, views, and money is making gaming weird.
I mean back when I was more into gaming I would contribute. I didn't expect money, I just did it because it was fun. I feel like there's a big disconnect between the current generation and my generation that wrote 300 page guides on gamefaqs for the hell of it rofl.
Not when rent is as high as it is, unfortunately everything that takes a significant amount of time needs to be monetized these days. If it takes a significant amount of your time it had better be earning you money, otherwise the factories need their cogs.
There are multiple factors. Some people are trying to get something for nothing, ofc. Like you also said elsewhere here,
The difference is the decreasing availability of alternatives.
As someone who has tried to do this for a couple of games, I can say that people don't like to read. Charts, text, spreadsheets, data explorations, MediaWiki Template encoding conjoined with Cargo database querying providing a back-end support, even simplistic graphics... these are all huge no-nos when you try to say something to a bunch of teenagers that would prefer to simply make fun of you for being a nerd, who can actually write much less read - even for games whose central premise is math. No matter how much you dumb it down for them, it's too much to bother with - they just want tier lists and nothing else, and will complain LOUDLY if you dare to offer something deeper. Then again, that was Reddit, and maybe the Fediverse will be different somehow in that regard?
Also then there's ego to contend with. If you say something without the explicit blessing of The One True God (apparently meaning the kid who played this game before you ever heard of it), then it doesn't matter if what you say is right or wrong (like even if you agree with them word for word), the spin doctors will have their way with it and through selective screenshots of your exact words can somehow twist it into you you having said the exact opposite of what you explicitly said (it's easy if you try, just cut out the word "not" before the rest of the partial sentence and you get the idea! remember: nobody can/will read, so they'll all swallow it, hook, line, & sinker!:-). The art of Politics doesn't just apply IRL apparently - you can use the same basic principles for anything you want.
I've written guides for a couple games when I was unemployed during the pandemic, since I was looking to have something to do that was a bit deeper than just casually playing, and I'm not so eager to try to do so again. Especially since I have a job now and no time for that anymore. Not individually, but by and large as a whole, people suck (at least on Reddit, and especially Discord gaming communities) and I'm tired of pretending that this is not the case. So I'm not doing this again - fool me once, fool me twice, but I'm not dumb enough to do this for a 3rd game.
Context: I've played D1-3 but not 4 so that would not have been an option anyway, I just thought you might be interested in the perspective of someone who has done this for other, more strategy-type games than RP build theory-crafting.
On a positive note: if you find there to be a lack of good theory-crafting out there, maybe that's a great way for you to contribute and become known in the communities that you would enjoy talking in, if you would enjoy making such content? But if YOU won't make it, and OTHERS won't make it, indeed, there's likely a reason why... as the various comments to this post are going into various reasons why. People don't have as much time & energy these days as they once did due to rising inflation costs, and moreover the presence of disinformation does a fantastic job of masking the sources of true information, especially when compounded by bots and weird & alternative styles of up-voting campaigns where people flock to particular personalities more than paying attention to the content that is actually said. What you want may even be out there somewhere... but good luck getting the engagement algorithms to cough it up for you, b/c that's not what they are designed to do (anymore) - the world has changed, and we have already been eaten alive by the corporate giants.
Conversely, not every aspect of society needs to be monetized and capitalized.
There existed a time when players made guides because they were passionate about the game, not because they were trying to hit engagement metrics or ad revenue breakpoints. The website GameFAQs, for example, holds thousands of user created guides, and many of them are extremely high quality.
Obviously this is not to say that we should expect all creators to work for free, especially if they’re trying to make a career of it, but there’s decades of precedent for passion-driven user created content and I don’t think it’s right to label it as entitlement when talking about the loss of those elements in a shift towards icy veins/maxroll paid guides.
It really is though. Remember back when we just had gamefaqs guides? Or actual game wikis that weren’t plastered with ads?
It’s especially apparent in the japanese gamersphere. There used to be great (grassroots) wikis for basically every Japanese game, now they’re all run by e.g. game8 and their clones.
It seems to be the combination of two things: Diablo is now truly a mass market product, not just a gamer’s delight. Games now make more money than movies. The audience to be reached is enormous and attracts the eye of infotainment professionals, and no longer just people who are really into the game and decide to maybe try a guide. These people start with the cheap content machine first and Diablo is just the topic du jour. after a while they will be on to something else.
All this points at the second topic, which is the way paid creator video platforms have evolved. There’s now significant commercial opportunity and competition is fierce. No longer does the deeper guide win but rather the one that games the algo most, appeals to the broadest audience most, and has the most production value (money) behind it.
I suspect there is actually more high quality game guide content than ever, but you aren’t going to find it with just a “Diablo” search because there is an enormous pile of cheap crap on top of it.
My hardcore Barb found its end due to a nice little ~3000 ms lag spike.
I was sceptical about playing a hardcore character in an online-only Diablo game and I guess I was right. Lesson learned: Hardcore is nothing but a waste of time, if deaths aren't even your fault anymore.
I like the theme better. I prefer machines over vampires. I don’t care for the traps but they’re not as terrible as the article makes them out. It would be better if there was a reward. Functionally, they’re stationary monsters that don’t drop loot. The pet seems fine to start, but I’m still early, and the article says it doesn’t scale.
Overall, meh. Not worth $70 and still salty over the fact that there’s a battle pass in a game I already fucking paid for.
It is kinda early, but I’m glad for it. S1 wasn’t holding my interest as much. And maybe I’m delusional but s2 does seem better. But I hope they don’t get rid of varshan as a endgame boss, the game needs more.
Some of the choices made in d4 have been beyond confusing. However, d4 still isn’t as much a mess as d3 was when it was released so I still have hope some of those refinements will be implemented. We’ll see though…
I assumed the intent is not to actually be Polish or Celtic etc. but give areas influence. I’m still not sure I like it though.
I would rather have seen it done more like Middle-Earth where names can be different depending on language, but the common “English” tongue is normally used. So you have a river called Brandywine and another place Rivendell for locations in regions for two different races. Both just being English-sounding words unless asking their native races.
It kind of takes me out of it when suddenly stepping into Druid country and I start thinking of Scots and single malt whisky. I mean there’s no lore reason behind this at all because this is not even planet Earth. It just… is. :-/
It’s a little strange that there are such drastic changes in culture and climate in such a small area of land, but I still like that they did it. It’s of course completely a fantasy world so they can do whatever they want, and it’s got ‘video game scale.’ But I think the cultural differentiation helps to make the world feel larger and the different areas feel more distinct.
I’m a sorc and the patch made little difference to me. My mana cooldown is slightly longer. Big whoop.
I’m level 69 (nice) with ~150 hours played.
The people crying about the patch were level 100 the first week and wanted to power level their S1 character by sitting idle in a dungeon. Cry moar. Or put the game down.
I can see that without malignant hearts on the eternal realm, and the seasonal journey buffs that the nerfs might hit the eternal realm a little harder, but I can’t see why anyone would be playing eternal instead of season 1.
In d3 I never touched eternal characters after seasons started
I think the issue might be that the devs brought seasons out too soon. I wonder if they waited a year or 6 months, when more people where done with their first characters and ready to make a new one, it wouldn’t feel so bad.
If you’re level 69, this must be an eternal character. Try abandoning that character and refilling and see how the game feels.
I was getting malignant hearts right from the beginning of the game when following the new seasonal quest line
Have you actually played D1 recently? If not, you may be experiencing a serious case of “rose tinted glasses.” You’re remembering it far more fondly then it actually was.
We've had 20 years of improvements, thank God for that. It's the little things that shit me about D2, like having to load potions on your belt.. like refilling those slots isn't fun or engaging.
I have! Many times. I am one of those who is not nostalgic with D1 simply because I did not finish it until late (the first time I seriously dived through it was 5 years ago).
Could you point out things that I said that are inaccurate or incorrect?
I wouldn’t dare say that the things you said are inaccurate or incorrect. Just that they’re more subjective opinions and perspectives than objective facts.
I could easily say that many of your pros were cons for me. Some of the enemies were just needlessly annoying. The difficulty progression felt janky at times and often like a huge grind. And there are tons of small QoL additions over the last two decades that weren’t present in the original. I don’t have to worry about gold taking up inventory space, for one.
But then again, I’m not asserting that Diablo 4 is objectively better. It’s a different game made for different hardware in a different time, by practically a different set of people, for a different audience. This isn’t '97, with 2 smaller companies making a novel pc game for the few of us fuckin nerds in a basement. It’s 2023, where gaming is far more mainstream, Blizzard is a freaking behemoth of a company catering to millions of people.
I’m just saying, the contexts are too different for a comparison to be functionally useful.
Entertainment isn’t usually functionally useful. Same goes for criticism which usually comes down to taste.
That being said, there are some options that are better than others. D1 is not better than D4. D4 isn’t excessively good compared to it’s contemporaries either. If lost ark wasn’t such a predatory pos is still be playing it over D4, for example.
There have been tons of QoL additions for Diablo 1 as well, in terms of mods such as DevilutionX, Belzebub, Tchernobog etc. If you liked the original Diablo 1, you should give one of these new mods a go.
I played Diablo 4 until the end of the campaign, but after that, it became boring. The dungeons are repetitive, with everything looking the same. The dullest thing is the level scaling. Instead of having a sense of progression and being overpowered, every mob are at the same level as you. Additionally, the only effective way to play the game is to copy someone else’s build…
It doesn’t feel like a game made with love and passion but more like a mathematical formula that maximizes time played over enjoyment.
I have not been back to play D1 or D2 since the olden days but I know I played D2 a lot more. Great memories. I picked up D3 very late and played through once and lost interest - it just felt bland. When D2R came out I was excited for a min but after watching a few reviews decided to leave my nostalgia alone.
Now D4, I really wanted to wait to get it but I could not resist. My feelings echo yours and I struggled to even finish the story and I have not gone back yet. I played a lot of PoE over the years and the sense of progression with power, builds, and mechanics, you get from can be amazing. It has its rough edges but it has a satisfying payoff (up to a point). D4 has no payoff at almost any stage, at least for me. And according to my memory didn't have the gameplay enjoyment of D2 and not close to PoE.
I feel like min maxing ruins it a lot. You don’t have to use someone else’s build. If I find a legendary aspect , I’ll try it and see how good it feels and it evolves over time. The game in part is the grind, the renown , etc. you have plenty of side quests, events , world bosses , etc. I feel like that’s Diablo that hasn’t even had it’s first season yet.
To add to trying new aspects.. it becomes quite a chore to try new ones when you need to redo paragon boards and respec/re-aspect to fit it. Some aren't as necessary as others but some require a full respec just to test. I think it could use a streamline to make testing new builds a bit easier.
I’ve been having a blast. The game is beautiful, the gameplay is nice , and it’s really fun experimenting with different builds. The only monetization really is skins and the battlepass (not out yet). You can ignore these and not notice you’re missing out.
That said if you didn’t like 3 I doubt you’d like 4. D3 was my first Diablo game but this is the first game I’ve put so many hours in. I find the gameplay loop a lot of fun and this gets amplified with friends. Too bad there isn’t a trial or something you can demo the game with.
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